Middle East

China calls for UN council action, slams US

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called on the UN Security Council to seek an early de-escalation of violence between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers. He also blamed the US for the council's lack of action so far.
US President Biden urges Gaza-Israel calm in first call with President Abbas

US President Joe Biden urged calm between Israel and Gaza on Saturday and affirmed his support for a two-state solution in his first phone call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas since taking office, the official Palestinian news agency said.
Israeli airstrike on Gaza home kills 10 Palestinians, mostly children

An Israeli air raid on a densely populated refugee camp in Gaza City killed at least 10 Palestinians from an extended family, mostly children, early Saturday in the deadliest single strike of the current battle with Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
Israeli airstrikes kill 126 Palestinians in Gaza, 11 killed in West Bank

Ongoing Israeli airstrikes have so far killed 126 Palestinians in Gaza, including 31 children and 20 women, 950 people have been injured, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported on Friday, according Al Arabiya.
Israeli forces launch military operation in Gaza; hospitals struggling to treat injured

Israeli forces have launched air strikes and deployed troops on the ground on the Gaza Strip, according to a brief message from the Israeli army, while the Gaza Strip’s feeble health system has been struggling to provide treatment to the injured in the Israeli attack amid a runaway surge of coronavirus cases.
UN Security Council meets on Israel but US blocks statement

The UN Security Council held another emergency meeting Wednesday on worsening hostilities between Israel and Palestinians, again without agreeing on a joint statement due to opposition from the United States, Israel's key ally, according to diplomats.
PM denounces attack of terrorist nature on Al-Aqsa mosque

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today condemned the recent attack on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, and urged the world community to take permanent steps to stop such heinous acts.
35 killed in Gaza, 5 in Israel, as violence escalates

Hostilities between Israel and Hamas escalated on Wednesday, with at least 35 killed in Gaza and five in Israel in the most intensive aerial exchanges for years.
Gaza residential tower collapses in Israeli airstrike, witnesses say

A 13-storey residential tower in the Gaza Strip was hit by an Israeli air strike yesterday night and soon after collapsed, witnesses said, amid a surge in fighting between Israel and Gaza militants.
Syria releases hundreds of social media critics ahead of election

Syria has freed more than 400 civil servants, judges, lawyers and journalists detained this year in a crackdown on social media dissent, a move seen by rights activists and former detainees as intended to win over public opinion ahead of presidential elections.
Israel airstrikes kill 20 including 9 children in Gaza, Palestinians say

Israel responded Hamas militant group's rocket strike on Jerusalem with airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, where 20 people, including nine children, were killed in fighting.
153 Palestinians in hospital after Jerusalem holy site clash

Israeli police firing tear gas, stun grenades and rubber-coated bullets clashed with Palestinian stone-throwers at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site on Monday, the latest in a series of confrontations that is pushing the contested city to the brink of eruption.
Clashes, prayers in Jerusalem on Laylat al-Qadr

Clashes erupted between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police outside the Old City of Jerusalem on Saturday as tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers prayed at the nearby Al-Aqsa Mosque on Islam’s holy night of Laylat al-Qadr.
Saudi Arabia rejects Israel’s plan to evict Palestinians from Jerusalem

Saudi Arabia has rejected Israel’s plans and measures to evict dozens of Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem and impose Israeli sovereignty over them, reported Al Arabiya today.
53 hurt in Jerusalem clash between Palestinians, Israel police

Palestinian worshippers clashed with Israeli police late Friday at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a major holy site sacred to Muslims and Jews, in an escalation of weeks of violence in Jerusalem that has reverberated across the region.
Palestinian woman killed, two Israelis wounded in West Bank violence

A Palestinian woman was killed and two Israelis were seriously wounded in two separate shooting incidents in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.
179 Bangladeshi expats stuck in Muscat airport after suspension of flights from Oman

A total of 179 Bangladeshi expatriates are stuck at the Muscat International Airport after Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (Caab) added Oman to a list of 12 countries from which passengers would not be allowed to enter Bangladesh as part of the country’s Covid-19 containment measures.
Crush at Israeli religious festival kills 44

At least 44 people were crushed to death at an over-crowded religious bonfire festival in Israel on Friday, medics said, in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a "heavy disaster".
Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of ‘apartheid’ crimes against Palestinians

An international rights watchdog accused Israel on Tuesday of pursuing policies of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians - and against its own Arab minority - that amount to crimes against humanity.
27 dead in fire at Baghdad hospital for Covid-19 patients

At least 27 people were killed and 46 injured in a fire on Saturday at a hospital in south-east Baghdad that had been equipped to house Covid-19 patients, medical sources at three nearby hospitals said.
Biden expected to recognize massacre of Armenians as genocide – sources

U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to formally recognize the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War One as an act of genocide, sources said on Wednesday, a move likely to infuriate Turkey and further strain already frayed ties between the two NATO allies.
Valid passports so dear

Renewing passports have suddenly become a “wild goose chase” for Bangladeshi migrants in Oman.
11 killed, nearly 100 injured after train derails in Egypt's Cairo

At least 11 people were killed on Sunday when some train carriages derailed in Egypt's Qalyubia province north of Cairo, the health ministry said in a statement.
Biden administration proceeding with $23 billion weapon sales to UAE

US President Joe Biden’s administration has told Congress it is proceeding with more than $23 billion in weapons sales to the United Arab Emirates, including advanced F-35 aircraft, armed drones and other equipment.
US says troops to leave Afghanistan by September 11

US President Joe Biden plans to withdraw the remaining 2,500 US troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, 20 years to the day after the al Qaeda attacks that triggered America’s longest war.
Tarabi prayers shortened at two holy mosques in Saudi Arabia

The Tarabi prayers, this Ramadan, at the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah will be shortened to 10 raka’ts from 20 by order of the custodian of the two holy mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia.
Jordan's King Abdullah and estranged Prince Hamza make first joint appearance since rift

Jordan’s King Abdullah and former crown prince and half-brother Prince Hamza made their first joint appearance since a rift shook the country, attending a ceremony on Sunday marking 100 years of independence.
Iran reports electrical incident at Natanz nuclear site, no casualties

A problem with the electrical distribution grid of Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility caused an incident at the site on Sunday, Iranian Press TV reported, a day after Tehran launched new advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges at the site.
South African Covid-19 variant can ‘break through’ Pfizer vaccine: study

The coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa can “break through” Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine to some extent, a real-world data study found.
US, Iran clash on sanctions; US sees possible ‘impasse’

US and Iranian officials clashed over what sanctions the United States should lift to resume compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, with Washington predicting an impasse if Tehran sticks to a demand that all sanctions since 2017 be removed.